Garage door operating device



March 20, 1951 H. H. HALL 2,545,775

GARAGE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed May 2, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 1INVENTOR.

HARVEY H. HALL ATTORNEY March 20, 1951 H. H. HALL GARAGE DOOR OPERATINGDEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 2, 1946 FIG.

INVENTOR.

HARVEY H. HALL ATTORNEY March 20, 1951 H L 2,545,775

GARAGE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Filed May 2, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. HARVEY H. HALL ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 20, 1951 UNITED STATESATENT OFFICE GARAGE DOOR OPERATING DEVICE Harvey H. Hall, Denver, Colo.

Application May 2, 1946, Serial No. 666,648

4 Claims. 1

This invention relates to improvements in door operating devices and hasreference more particularly to an improved garage door an means foroperating and latching the same.

Garage doors of the type that operate on vertically positioned hingesare very unsatisfactory and thereforemany doors have been invented ofwhich the type usually referred to as overhead doors is most popular forthe small garages.

It is the object of this invention to produce a garage door and operatinmeans which shall be of simple and substantial construction and of sucha design that the cost of the material and the installation will becomparatively low.

Another object of the invention is to produce a garage door, of theoverhead type, which does not require counterweights or springs toassist in its operation.

A further object of the invention is to produce a garage door of such aconstruction that it can be operated by means of a small electric motorcontrolled by means of switches positioned in convenient locationsoutside of the garage.

A still further object of the invention is to produce a door operatingmeans of such construction that after the door starts operating, themovement will be uniform and smooth and free from jerks resulting fromsudden application of the lifting force.

Another object of this invention is to produce a construction in whichthe initial force applied to the door durin the opening operation willbe applied in such a manner that the component thereof utilized inlifting the door, shall be very large in proportion to the total amountof force.

Another object of the invention is to produce a door operating means ofsuch construction that it will automatically latch the door againstunauthorized opening from outside and which latching or locking meanswill be automatically released when force is applied by the openingmechanism.

Another object of the invention is to produce a simple and substantialmotor winch having a limit stop that can be readily adjusted todeenergize the motor at any desired point in the opening and closingoperation.

Another object of the invention is to produce a garage door of suchconstruction that stops can be provided along the outer edge of the doorto effect a closed seal against the entrance of dust, dirt and rain.

The aboveand other objects of the invention that may appear as thedescription proceeds are attained by means of a construction and anarrangement of parts that will now be described in detail and for thispurpose reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which theinvention has been illustrated in its preferred form, and in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the electrically operated winchmechanism, looking upwardly through plane Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a top plan view;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the limit stop switch operatingmechanism;

Figure 4 is a view of the switch mechanism looking in the direction ofarrow 4, Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a section through a garage door taken on line 55, Figure 6;

Figure 5a is a section taken on line 5o;5a, Figure 5.

Figure 6 is a vertical elevational view of the outside of the door,locking in the direction of arrow 6, Figure 5, a portion being brokenaway to better disclose the construction;

Figure 7 is a section taken on line 'l--1, Figure 8; i

Figure 8 is an elevation looking in the direction of arrowB, in Figure7;

Figure 9 is an elevation lookin in the direction of arrows 9-9, inFigure 7;

Figure 10 is a view, partly in section, taken on lines |0--I0, Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a view more or less diagrammatic, taken along line Il-ll,Figure '7.

In the drawing reference numeral l5 designates a garage floor andreference numeral IS the roof, which is supported on rafters ll.Reference numeral [8 designates a plate that forms the upper member ofthe door frame. The vertical members of the door frame have beendesignated by reference numeral I9, while the door has been designatedby reference numeral 20. The door has been shown as constructed of twoparts which are preferably separated a short distance at the center, asshown in Figure 6, and indicated by reference numeral 2|. The spacebetween the doors forms a groove for the cable 22, as will hereinafterbe pointed out. Instead of the doors being spaced apart, a groove may beprovided.

'Secured to the under surface of plate I8 is a bracket having twodownwardly extending arms 23 that form supports for the shaft 24 onwhich is journaled a pulley 25. This pulley is spaced on one side by aferrule 26. The pulley and the ferrule are both rotatable on shaft 24.

Secured to the inside of the door is a bracket having spaced lugs 21that have been shown as formed integral with a plate 28 which is securedto the door by means of bolts or screws 29. A pivot pin, either a boltor a rivet 39, extends between the upper ends of lugs 21 and supports ahook-like member having a hub 3! and two spaced fingers 32.

The fingers are outwardly flared, along the part indicated by referencenumeral 33, and terminate in inwardly extending hooks 34. Hub 3| andfingers 32 are preferably formed from cast metal. A latching pawl 35 ispivoted on pin 39 and is held against relative rotation with respect tothe fingers 32 by means of a pin 36. This pawl may be cast integrallywith hub 3|, if found desirable. The free end of the pawl has alaterally extending surface 3'! that engages the ferrule 25 in themanner shown in Figure 10. The free end is tapered on both sides asshown and terminates in a point 38. The stranded wire cable 22 isattached to the lower end of the door at the point designated byreference numeral 39 and passes over pulley 25;. This cable is providedwith an enlargement 40, which is of greater diameter than the distancebetween fingers 32 and which will therefore not pass between thefingers. When the door is closed, there is some slack in the cable,which has been indicated in Figure 11, and positioned in the bight ofthe cable is a pulley Al tov which a spring 42 is attached. This springis anchored to the garage at the point 43 and is always under a tension.The cable, after it passes between fingers 32, extends to the Winch drum44 as indicated in Figure 5.

Referring now more particularly to Figures and 6, it will be observedthat the door is provided at its lower end with rollers 45 that projectinto groove 46 in the door frame IS. The outer stop has been designatedby reference numeral 41. Supported from the garage is a track, like thatdesignated by reference numeral 48, which maybe considered, for thepurposes of this description, as being a channel-shaped member withparallel flanges. The door is provided near itstop with rollers 45a thatare positioned in the channel. The distance between the rollers 45 and45a is, of course, constant and when the door is moved inwardly at thetop, rollers 45 will gradually move upwardly. In the drawing severalpositions of the door have been shown, the one shown in full line beingthe zero position. The other positions have been designated by referencecharacters, a, b, c and d. It will be observed that when the door movesfrom the zero position to the position a, the lower roller moves a veryshort distance and when the door moves from a to b, the lower rollermoves a somewhat greater distance. The distance between rollers 45 and45a forms the hypothenuse of a right angle triangle. Due to thedifferent distances moved by the rollers at the beginning of the dooropening, it follows that the tension in cable 22 is resolved into twocomponents, one of which moves the door inwardly and the other of whichlifts it upwardly. At the beginning, a comparatively small forcesuffices to move the door inwardly along track 48 and at the same timethe comparatively short distance that the bottom moves upwardly requiresonly a rather small force. After the door has moved inwardly to points 0and d, the force required to move the door upwardly farther than thiswould be verygreat, if exerted on the upper end of the door, andtherefore the apparatus has been so designed and constructed that, afterthe door has reached a position between I; and c, the force thatinitially urges the door inwardly is transferred so as to be exerted inthe cable lying on the outside of the door and which is attached at thelower end thereof. To effect this transfer of force fingers 32 have beenprovided. Fingers 32 have a limited rotary motion about pivot 39 and theextent of this angular motion is limited by some suitable means such asoutwardly extending finger 49 that engage lugs 21, in the manner shownin Figures '7 and 9. Any other suitable stop mechanism may be employedand the one described has been shown merely as illustrative of means forthis purpose. When the door is closed, pawl 35 hooks over and engagesthe ferrule 26 in the manner shown in Figures 7 and 10. The first effectof a tension exerted in cable 22 is therefore to turn the fingers 32 andpawl 35 in a clockwise direction when viewed as in Figure 10, therebyunlocking the door so that the upper end may move inwardly. A spring 50may be attached between pawl 35 and one of the lugs 2'! to move the pawlinto latching position. However, if the weight of pawl 35 is sufficientto accomplish this, the spring may be omitted.

Referring new again to Figure 5, it will be observed that the lower endof cable 22, being fastened to the door, moves upwardly in a straightline and since the cable passes around pulley 25 which is secured to thegarage, that point remains stationary. The enlargement 49 being inengagement with fingers 32 follows the inward movement of the door andas the door moves inwardly, the cable, which makes a right angle turnabout the pulley 23 and extends thence straight to the winch drum, formswith the door a right angle triangle. This increases the distancebetween point 39 and the enlargement 49 as the door moves towards openposition and this, in turn, takes up the slack that has been shown inFigure 11. As soon as the slack is taken out of the cable, the tensionin the cable will be transferred from fingers 32 to point 39 and insteadof moving the door by exerting an inward force on the upper end thereof,a lifting force is now exerted which raises the door and the latterfollows the track 48, until it finally gets into a position where it issubstantially horizontal.

Attention is called at this point to the fact that rollers 45 are nearthe lower end of the door and move in groove 46 and therefore the doorwill not project out beyond the wall of the garage when it is in openposition. Since garages are usually positioned adjacent an alley, a doorthat extends beyond the building line or the rear wall of the garage, isalways in danger of being struck by a loaded truck traveling through thealley.

Attention is directed in particular to the operation just describedwhereby the force for opening the door is first exerted in an inwarddirec-. tion on the upper end of the door and then transferred to thelower end of the door and exerted in an upward direction and to the factthat this transfer takes place without any sudden jolts being produced.

The means which hasbeen illustrated. in Figure 11, for taking uptheslack in the cable, is more or less diagrammatic andis intended toillustrate one means for this purpose. An inspection of Figure 5 showsthat the lower end of the cable moves upwardly much slower than theupper end of the door moves inwardly so that during the short time whenthe slack is used up, there is very little movement of the cable aboutpulley 25. Any other suitable equivalent means for taking up the slackmay be substituted for the one described and shown, if desired.

Referring now to Figures 1 to 4, inclusive, which illustrate one form ofthe winch mechanism, reference numeral 5| designates a base that issupported in any suitable way from the roof or walls of the garage. Thebase carries two bearings 52 and 53 in which is rotatably mounted ashaft 54. The shaft has shoulders abutting the bearing so that it willnot move longitudinally. A worm wheel 55 is secured to the shaft betweenthe bearings. Shaft 54 terminates in a threaded portion 56 that carriesa traveling nut 51. A reversible electric motor 58 is secured to thebase and the motor shaft 59 terminates in a worm 55 that cooperates withthe worm gear 55. When the motor operates, shaft 54 with its drum 44,rotates and since nut 51 cannot rotate for reasons that will presentlyappear, it will travel longitudinally on the bolt. Secured to the baseis a switch box 6i that contains a lever operated switch of the desiredtype. The handle of the switch has been designated by reference numeral62. A bracket having arms 63 and 64 is secured to nut 5! and extendsslightly more than half the distance across the switch box. Chains 65and spring 65 connect the ends of arms 63 with the lever 62, in themanner shown in Figures 3 and 4. The combined lengths of the springs andchains is greater than the distance between the arms 53 and the chainsare therefore slack in the center position of the traveling nut withrespect to the switch box. When the nut 57 approaches either end of itstraveling, it will take up the slack in the corresponding chain and putthe corresponding spring under tension. When the tension becomessufficient, the switch will snap to its other position, opening thecircuit, thereby stopping the motor. When the circuit is again closed asby an electric switch positioned outside of the garage, the motor willcommence rotating in the other direction and the traveling nut will alsomove in the opposite direction until a predetermined position of thedoor has been reached, thereupon the switch will be reversed by theother chain and spring.

Since circuits of this type are old and well known, it has not beenillustrated.

The parts must be so adjusted that when the motor is operating to openthe door, it will stop when the door has reached open position, the wormdrive being nonreversible will hold the door in any position in which itmay be when the motor stops operating.

When the door is moved to closed position, the

weight of the door will keep the cable taut as it is unrolled from thewinch drum.

When the enlargement 49 reaches a position like that indicated by T inFigure 5, the fingers 32 will move upwardly into engagement with thisenlargement and thereafter as the door closes, a little slack willaccumulate in the cable between the fingers and pulley 25 and this willbe taken up by pulley 4| and spring 42. When the door reaches closedposition, pawl 35 will engage over the ferrule 26 and latch the dooragainst accidental opening. In the drawing the end 38 of the pawl hasbeen shown as exposed on the outside of the door, but in the actualconstruction this is enclosed by a cover which has not been shown, butwhich is provided to prevent anyone outside of the garage from unlockingthe door.

Attention is again directed to Figures 2, 3 and 4, more particularly tothe spring 66. Although the length of the chains can be readily alteredand adjusted because they are merely fastened in slots 61, it is stilldiflicult to obtain the exact lengths. When the spring are added, therewill be no breakage if the chains are slightly shorter than they shouldbe.

Having described the claimed as new is:

1. In an automatic power operated garage door of the rigid overhead typein which the upper end of the door moves inwardly at the beginning ofthe opening movement, means for opening the door comprising a winchdrum, a cable having one end attached to the drum, a pulley supported infixed position above the top of the door, the cable passing around thepulley, downwardly along the outside of the door and attached to thelatter adjacent its lower end, means for guiding the movement of thelower end of the door comprising spaced vertical tracks, means forsupporting and guiding the upper end of the door comprising inwardlyextending tracks, two upwardly extending and outwardly concave spacedfingers secured to the door, on its inner surface, adjacent its upperend, the fingers being rockable through a small angle about a pivotcarried by the door and spaced inwardly therefrom, the fingersstraddling the cable, an enlargement on the cable between the fingersand the pulley, and means for latching the door in closed positioncomprising a pawl operatively connected with the finger assembly androtatable therewith, the pawl being moved to unlatching position whentension is applied to the cable.

2. An automatic power operated rigid garage door of the overhead typecomprising, a pair of vertical, spaced, parallel tracks and a pair ofspaced, substantially horizontal tracks, extending inwardly from pointsnear the upper ends of the first tracks, a door between the tracks,track followers at the lower end of the door movable along the verticaltracks, track followers at the upper end of the door movable along theupper tracks, means for opening said door comprising, a winch mechanismhaving a drum, secured to the inside of the garage, a pulley secured tothe garage at a point over the door, a cable passing over the pulley,one end of the cable being fastened to the winch drum and the other tothe outside of the door near the lower end thereof, and means comprisingtwo spaced fingers secured to the inside of the door for effecting aconnection with the cable when the cable is wound onto the winchinvention what is drum, said means automatically releasing after d inbuildings having a door frame provided on each vertical side with aguide track, a rigid door positioned between the tracks, the lower endof the door having track followers mounted for movement along thetracks, an inwardly extending track at the top of the door, a trackfollower near the top of the door operatively related to the inwardlyextending track to support and guide the upper end of the door when itis moved to open position, a pulley supported in fixed position-over thedoor, a winch mechanism comprising a drum supported at a fixed point,spaced from the pulley, a cable having one end connected with the winch,passing over the pulley thence downwardly along the outside of the doorwith its endsecured to the door near the bottom thereof, two upwardlyextending spaced fingers secured to the inside of the door, adjacent itsupper end, the fingers straddling the cable, an enlargement on the cablebetween the fingers and the pulley, the length of the cable from theenlargement to its point of attachment to the door being greater'thanthe actual distance, whereby, when the door is in closed position, therewill be slack in the cable, and whereby when the winch is operated towind the cable onto the drum, the enlargement will engage the fingersexerting a force moving the upper end of the door inwardly until theslack in the cable has been used up, whereupon the force of the cablewill be transferred to the point where it is attached to the door.

4. In an automatic power operated garage door opening mechanism of thetype described, the combination of spaced, substantially vertical tracksarranged'along each side of the doorway, a track extending inwardly froma point near the top of each vertical track, a rigid door'positionedbetween the vertical track, rollers adjacent the lower end of the doorpositioned to ride on the vertical tracks, rollers adjacent the top ofthe door positioned to ride on the inwardly extending tracks, the doorand thetrack forming a substantially right triangular structure when theupper end of the door is moved inwardly, a pulley supported in a fixedposition above the door when it is in closed position, a motor operatedwinch drum, a cable passing over the pulley, one end of 8 the cablebeing connected with the winch drum and the other to the outside of thedoornear its lower end, the cable being longer than the actual distancefrom the drum to its point of attachment when the door is closed, tworearwardly and upwardly extending spaced fingers secured to the insideof the door near the top, the fingers straddling the cable when the dooris closed, the cable having an enlargement between the pulley and thefingers, in engagement with the fingers when the door is closed, theslack in the cable being between the enlargement and the point where thecable is attached to the door, the fingers automatically moving out ofengagement with the enlargement when the door has tilted inwardly apredetermined amount.

HARVEY H. HALL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,792,119 Peele Feb. 10, 19311,848,311 Brower Mar. 8, 1932 1,936,269 Schaffert et a1 Nov. 21, 19332,099,191 Blodgett Nov. 16, 1937 2,166,746 Bartel July 18, 19392,277,932 Mowers Mar. 31, 1942

